Violin Left Hand – volume 1
“Violin Left Hand volume 1 complements Fintan Murphy’s earlier ‘Violin Bow Technique’ DVDROM and focuses on improving the left hand through advice, exercises, instructions and video lessons. Fintan is able to offer his experience not only to ‘new’ students, but to students at all stages, as well as teachers. Throughout the DVDROM, all the elements of left hand playing are covered, such as left hand fundamentals, finger action, finger independence, facility and even the violin & your body. Of particular interest to me was topic 1 of chapter 3 (the introduction to ‘Finger Action’) which focused on solving problematic finger actions; as the title suggests. I sometimes find my fourth finger nail knuckle locking when I play double stops and I found this information very useful in solving the problem. Another area of interest for me was the reasoning for and against using a shoulder rest; my shoulder rest was stolen recently and I had to practice without one, which I believe turned out to be beneficial. Topic 2 of the Introduction, which explained ‘The lesson environment’ for teachers, was particularly interesting; it provided teaching strategies which in turn can be used during a student’s practice. The DVDROM also includes an enormous range of exercises, practice methods, hints and a relaxation routine which is very helpful while practising. Violin Left Hand volume 1 is an excellent resource which I cannot fault. It is uselul for violinists and violists of all levels and is easy to understand via the wonderful video lessons presented by Fintan Murphy. If students are experiencing any problems with left hand plaving I would strongly recommend using this DVDROM.”
– Andrew Lumsden. Stringendo, the Journal of the Australian String Association (AUSTA), vol 35 no 2, October 2013